Embodiments of the invention are directed to systems, apparatuses, and methods for using and operating communications devices, and more specifically to the use and operation of wireless communication devices where one or more of the devices may be moveable. In some embodiments, the invention may be used in situations where the moveable part of a wireless communication link may change location during an active connection. For example, the invention may be utilized in a situation in which a Bluetooth-enabled headset is communicating with a Bluetooth-enabled cell phone, and the headset is moving relative to the cell phone during a communication session (which may arise for example, in a situation where a user walks around an office while their cell phone is left on a desk).
In some situations it may be desirable to be able to determine the approximate direction in which a wireless peer device is located relative to a known object. For example, in the case where a cell phone user has misplaced their headset, it would be beneficial to determine in which direction (relative to the cell phone) that the headset was situated, in order to enable the user to retrieve the headset. As another example, where a headset is involved in a pairing operation with another device in a field of multiple devices, it may be more efficient to allow the user to point their headset in the direction of the desired peer device in order to facilitate identification of the device with which the user desires to conduct a pairing operation. As another example, a game or activity where different users challenge each other to perform a task may include the capability to allow users to challenge players in their vicinity that may not be known to them. In this situation, it would be helpful to facilitate a user finding another user by pointing out the direction in which the other user is located. These examples and other use cases represent some of the applications in which the ability to determine the approximate relative direction of a wireless peer device from another device would be beneficial.
A number of conventional methods exist for performing direction-finding operations. For example, each portable device could be equipped with a compass, a GPS receiver, and a connection to a server, and they could share their current position and direction with the server. The relative direction could then be determined from the information on the server. However, this method has a number of serious drawbacks. These drawbacks include the additional cost of a compass and GPS receiver, the reliance on the existence of a GPS system and a dependable network connection, the additional power consumption, and a potentially excessive latency in determining the desired information.
Another conventional method that is at least theoretically feasible involves using a radio-frequency beam-former, or steerable antenna, which enables antenna performance to be optimized for a particular direction. The antenna beam is rotated to determine the direction of the peer by detecting the direction of the strongest received signal. However, this technique also has a number of limitations. It is typically costly, relatively large, and consumes an excessive amount of power for many applications. Further, when not used for direction-finding, the antenna pattern is typically very inefficient unless it can be continually trained on the peer device, which is usually difficult to achieve.
As a result, it would be desirable to have a means of discovering the relative direction of a wireless communication device with respect to another device, where such means overcomes one or more of the disadvantages of conventional approaches. Such a system, device, or method may provide one or more of the advantages of reduced cost, reduced size, reduced power consumption, reduced complexity, improved antenna performance, or reduced latency compared to conventional approaches.
What is desired are a system, apparatus, and method for determining the approximate direction in which a peer device lies relative to another device, where such system, apparatus, or method may have one or more of the benefits of lower cost, smaller size, reduced power consumption, lower computational complexity, reduced number of components, improved antenna performance, or lower latency when compared to conventional approaches. Embodiments of the invention provide these and other benefits either individually or collectively.